Working with fiberglass?

Hey guys I am working on an idea for the Olds though it will require some fiberglass work. This is something I have never played with before and I was wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of either a good website or book for doing custom fiberglass work.

I'm not looking to do anything huge, I just want to change the top edge of the grill sections in the header panel. I want to change the grills and delete the section that extends over the top of the header panel. Basically add about a 1 - 1.5 inch wide and 10 inch long section above each grill. Am I making any sense at all?

You just want the grill to be on the front face of the car and not extending up on to the top of the car in front of the hood, right? Sounds easier than I'm sure it will be. Can't swap the Pontiac/Caddy/Chebby header on, or want a different look all-together?

Yep that is what I want. Yeah looking for different look all together kinda more similar to the early 70's Cutlass front.

The fiberglass and resin are cheap. The time and money you put into the mold and it's prep are killer. A good mold makes good parts. Crappy cheap molds are for E-Bay.

Appleseed wrote: The fiberglass and resin are cheap. The time and money you put into the mold and it's prep are killer. A good mold makes good parts. Crappy cheap molds are for E-Bay.

+tons

Whether you're gonna use chop mat or glass cloth, you have to have a good mold or way to much filler is in your future. Unfortunately I cannot recommend a good book or website, all of my fiberglass experience comes from a summer job back in college. Also, I'm a horrible teacher, but if you have any specific questions I might be able to help.

Why am I getting a feeling it would be easier to make the pieces I want out of metal

I don't want to really remake the entire header panel just fill in those two sections above the grills. Any other suggestions? Really its the only thing I dislike about the front end on this thing.

I don't have any websites either, but based on my limited experience, you should do it outside, in a good breeze.

Those fumes are STRONG!

I'll see if I can find my book on composites. But basically you need a plug - a positive of the part you're going to make (clay, foam, fiberglass, steel, whatever material works for you). For a one-off that you won't need the mold again, floral foam works (you'll destroy the mold later) - make the mold, cover in fiberglass/resin and have fun with filler. If you're making multiples, build your plug, get it as good as possible, paint it and wax it a bunch - final wax with a mold release wax, shoot gelcoat - tooling gelcoat for heavy use molds - start laying in glass before the gelcoat is completely cured - careful with shapes - you have to be able to release the mold - complex shapes/flanges often need multiple part molds - repeat the process with your new mold to start getting parts - made molds and flares for my challenge car. You can skimp on the gelcoat for your parts, but you'll pay a price filling and sanding. My 4 flares ended up costing about $50 but took a huge chunk of time to make them presentable. Spend the time to get the mold right.

fiberglast has some online guides and sells supplies. You can also get resin and cloth or mat at home depot - gelcoat - local boat stores will have it - but it will be pricey there.

http://www.fiberglassforums.com/index.php

Warning. There are a lot of folks there with a lot of talent and imagination, but very few with good taste. hideous widebody kits with stock wheels and ride heights. Ghastly interior reworkings. And a metric buttload of subwoofer boxes but there is a great deal of good info in between all that.

http://sollercomposites.com/

The site is a little cheesy, but ive ordered twice and had EXCELLENT service!!! They are very knowledgeable, courteouse, professional and -=fast (please notice the itallics and the woosh lines for added effect). Poke around the site and youll get a lot of good technical info as well. I used them to start building a composite CAI for my Infiniti

http://www.fibreglast.com/

Having done a fair amount of glassing on the 924 project, I can say that it isn't too bad aside from the mess.

Read the directions, plan your process ahead of time, prepare the parts and fiberglass cloth/mat before mixing the resin. Keep in mind the resin reacts to ambient heat, so the warmer it is, the quicker it sets up. If it is cold, the longer it takes to set up. The hardware store stuff isn't bad, and it is what I used to patch the numerous cracks and add a reverse scoop to the hood. There are better products available of course if you wanted to get more serious about it.

If you want to make a mold out of foam, here is a good guide to read:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-methods-for-molding-fiberglass-and-carbon-f/

Plus some more:

http://www.instructables.com/tag/?q=fiberglass&limit%3Atype%3Aid=on&type%3Aid=on&type%3Auser=on&type%3Acomment=on&type%3Agroup=on&type%3AforumTopic=on&type%3AforumTopic=on&sort=none

Need a video or two to help out?

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-use-bondo-fiberglass-mat-and-resin-for-body-repair-267155/

Cool thanks for the sites guys I will start doing some reading.